


Breakable Things

by Applesandbannas747



Series: Things to Hold Onto [2]
Category: Fence (Comics)
Genre: Happy Ending, Heavy Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Implied Sexual Content, M/M, Mentioned nudity, background nichoji, mentions of Harvard/Aiden
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-04
Updated: 2021-03-13
Packaged: 2021-03-17 06:54:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,726
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29837733
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Applesandbannas747/pseuds/Applesandbannas747
Summary: On the day of his wedding, Jesse Coste finds himself sitting in the audience instead of sweeping down the aisle. Everything he was promised as a child stolen from him, just like that. His supposed-to-be-perfect life suddenly feels broken, and Jesse’s desperate to regain control of it, but grasping at the pieces only succeeds in breaking them more.Eugene Labao is in the business of fixing people. When he sees a hurt, he’s inclined to ease it with a joke or a listening ear or advice and action. Jesse isn’t a patient, nor is he a friend. But he’s hurt and he’s gorgeous and he needs something to hold onto.The trouble with finding someone to hold onto—or holding someone in return—is that it’s only a matter of time before you don’t want to let go.
Relationships: Eugene Labao/Jesse Coste
Series: Things to Hold Onto [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2163135
Comments: 31
Kudos: 23





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I want to start off with a warning. I rated this fic T because, in my mind, it’s a T-rated fic. But that stuff is all subjective and I want to make sure we’re all on the same page for this one. This fic is super heavy in implied sexual content. I don’t believe it needs to be bumped up to M because we deal in references and fade to blacks and never describe any dick action. But it’s essentially a fuck buddies to lovers fic so. There is a lot of sex off-screen and tons of make outs on-screen and plenty of crude language, discussion of/references to sex, and good old innuendo along the way. So you can make the call now about if that’s something you’re comfortable reading.  
> Feel free to come chat with me on [tumblr](https://applesandbannas747.tumblr.com/) if you have any specific questions or concerns!

Jesse was a guest at his own wedding.

He’d planned this wedding and this marriage down to the last detail. Had poured years of his life into getting it all _just right._ And now it wasn’t even his. He sat in the front row of the seats _he’d_ picked out and waited for the proceedings to start. Jesse didn’t care to be here—not unless he was the one waiting, partially concealed, by the trees behind all the chairs and people seated in them. Not unless he was the one getting ready to walk down the aisle with his father to be given away and given purpose. Jesse didn’t care to see Seiji sweep down the aisle in his stead to marry some usurper.

It wasn’t that Jesse loved Seiji, it was that Seiji was _his._ By all rights, by all the years they’d spent planning and bargaining, Seiji was meant to be marrying him. And Nicholas Cox had stolen him. Just like he’d stolen Jesse’s life.

No, Jesse didn’t want to be here at all. And he especially didn’t want to be here seated next to a man who hardly fit in his seat. Jesse couldn’t tell if it was the muscled bulk of the man or the exuberant energy driving him to speak with his whole body that made him spill out of his space and into Jesse’s, but he hated it. It was just another way this day would be made unpleasant. The man kept turning all the way around and leaning over his chair to call something or another to people that hadn’t made the front row cut—Jesse was sure this man belonged to Nicholas but he was making fast friends with the rest of the guests.

_How annoying._

Jesse was relieved when the music signaled a start to the ceremony. The sooner this hell show started, the sooner it would end.

Jesse turned his head with the rest of the attendees to watch the blushing bride’s path down the aisle. Seiji made a terrible blushing bride. Jesse could have done much better than a pleasant but empty upturn of lips and steady, determined steps. Seiji wasn’t even walking with a bouquet to match the scattering of petals underfoot.

They’d stolen Jesse’s wedding and they weren’t even bothering to do it right.

Jesse rolled his eyes and flicked them up to the altar—which wasn’t really an altar, but the destination at the end of the walk marked by a simple dais. His eyes caught, however, on the obnoxiously large and loud man in the aisle seat next to him. He mimicked sticking a leg out into the aisle. For a moment, Jesse thought he actually meant to trip Seiji and he was horrified by the thought of such a disruption to the wedding—it was still his creation even if it wasn’t his wedding anymore, and one of the grooms falling flat on his face wouldn’t do at all. But the leg retracted as quickly as it had subtly stuck into the petalled grass.

Jesse didn’t understand the point of the movement and almost wrote it off as the man thoughtlessly stretching his leg until he saw that he was grinning up at Nicholas, crossing his eyes briefly. And the way it transformed Nicholas’s face was really something to see.

A huge smile spread across it and his eyes shone so brightly, Jesse almost didn’t recognize him as the same ruffian he’d met some days ago. Nicholas had looked like one of those guys that wore eyeliner and cried in the car to trashy music. Now, he looked like a radiant, brilliantly happy man. And all of that warm sunshine demeanor was fixed on Seiji. Anyone could see the love of that smile. But only Jesse had noticed _which_ man had brought it out.

Not the one walking down the aisle.

The one smiling with satisfaction next to Jesse.

_Interesting._

* * *

Jesse managed not to gag while congratulating the happy couple. He didn’t linger in the throng of well-wishers, didn’t want their cheer anywhere near him. Every step of this wedding was excruciating. He felt distinctly like he was being punished, watching this milestone of his life as an outsider looking in on a castle with an imposter on the throne.

His life hadn’t really changed since Nicholas had come into it. Jesse still had more money than he could spend in a lifetime, still had admirers and looks and status. But his life had also changed completely. It was empty and without direction. He was an afterthought now. And there was nothing Jesse hated more than being thrown aside and ignored.

Eventually, Jesse decided that sulking alone at his brother’s wedding was sure to earn him bad rapport with the important people here. Slipping back into the crowd, he caught sight of the very brother that had ruined his life. And there was that burly friend of his. As Jesse watched, Nicholas pulled the other man to him in a hug.

Interested, Jesse let himself float naturally over to the two men. The nuisance was saying something now and Jesse picked out words from the din as he edged closer.

“Look at you now, big man with a bigger wallet,” he said, clapping Nicholas solidly on the back with a kind of laugh. _“And_ a gorgeous husband.”

“God, Gene,” Nicholas replied with a pained expression, “you know he’s not what I want.”

“Hey now, you’ll live.” Gene scruffed up Nicholas’s hair and Nicholas made a pathetic show of trying to push him off. Jesse narrowed his eyes. That was something of a flirtatious move, wasn’t it?

“Anyway,” Nicholas picked up the conversation once he’d untangled himself from Gene, “thanks for the laugh during the death march, I needed it.”

“I could tell. I could see the panic in your eyes.”

“And thanks, also, for driving my half-dead ass to the hospital. I owe you one for that.”

 _Ah,_ Jesse thought, _so this is the man who called Dad._

“No kidding. I thought you’d actually worked yourself to death, bud. Not a fun time.”

“How about I fix your car?” Nicholas offered.

“What, the door?”

“Doors. I know at least two of them are broken. You can get me pizza and help with the grunt work. Since I’ve already got the hospital bill covered and all, and I owe you for the trauma.”

“Nick—,”

“Come on, I doubt these Coste people are going to let me fix up cars, they’ve got plebs for that. Let me play in the grease.”

Jesse scrunched his nose. Imagine wanting to actually _fix_ cars and _play in the grease._ Disgusting. Jesse couldn’t even fathom it.

“If you insist,” Gene conceded reluctantly. Then he smiled devilishly. “Just don’t wear your pretty suit when you come to play,” he finished with a wink.

Yes, that was _definitely_ something. Everything was slotting into place in Jesse’s mind, and he was more and more sure of the hunch he’d had when overseeing the secret moment these two had shared while Nicholas’s betrothed—now husband—had walked the aisle.

“It’s a tux,” Nicholas said with a ridiculous affectation as he straightened his collar with exaggerated pomp. “I think.”

“It’s not a tuxedo,” Jesse couldn’t help but correct. “Smoking jackets aren’t the same as tuxedos.” Who didn’t know that? “Speaking of, where _is_ yours?”

“It’s—,” Nicholas shrugged, flapping a hand in a random direction.

“Do you know how expensive that jacket was?” Jesse asked, appalled. “You had better go find it before it wrinkles. And it will be time to cut the cake soon. Better go find your husband too.”

Jesse was satisfied to see the dismayed expression on Nicholas’s face as he recalled he had a husband. He thought Gene caught his satisfaction, so he hid it away out of view. But it really _would_ be time for cake soon so Jesse hadn’t even been lying on this.

“Oh, right.”

Did Nicholas Cox—Nicholas _Katayama—_ always look this lost?

“I hope your cake tastes good,” Gene put in.

“Yeah, me too!”

Finally, Nicholas left. Jesse felt marginally better with him gone from his sight.

Beside him, Gene exhaled a final laugh. His eyes were all soft, set on the people Nicholas had disappeared between.

“Reckon he’ll actually get back the coat?”

“It’s a smoking jacket,” Jesse corrected again. But he didn’t actually have time to discuss fashion just now. “Have you known him long?”

“Best friends since high school,” Gene confirmed.

“I hear you saved his life.”

“Christ, I hate that.”

“Hate what?” Jesse asked, curious at the almost-shudder that overtook Gene.

“People saying I saved his life. Don’t need the reminder of what a close call it was.”

“Why not?”

“Why not?” Gene repeated incredulously. “Because I don’t know what I’d have done if he’d actually gone and died on me, that’s why. _Christ,”_ Gene repeated. “I think I need a drink.”

Jesse reached out to grab Gene’s arm before he could actually go off and find a drink the way he seemed to be gearing up to do.

“It will be time for cake soon.”

“Yeah? And?”

“And we should head over there now, don’t you think? I went to the cake tastings, this one _is_ good.”

One of Gene’s eyebrows rose in inquisition. Now that Jesse looked at them, he wasn’t sure whether they actually counted as eyebrows. They were too short, too weighted towards the centers. Brows, Jesse decided, shortened just like the subjects in question.

Jesse didn’t answer Gene’s inquisition or give him the option to say no. He strode confidently toward the massive tent, letting go of Gene’s arm after three strides. As Jesse had expected, Gene kept pace with him.

Jesse nearly _did_ gag when it came time to cut the cake and Nicholas hand-fed the first forkful to Seiji. But then, after he took a bite of his own, he searched the crowd, finding Gene easily and flashing him a little thumbs up.

“Guess the cake’s good, then,” Gene said with a smile that turned into a whoop of laughter as Nicholas shoved the plate of cake into his newlywed husband’s face. Jesse had already told Gene the cake was good but, apparently, his word counted for little where Nicholas’s counted for everything.

“Seiji will _not_ like that,” Jesse said, watching his once-fiancé wipe frosting from his face after Nicholas had already stolen a fingertip of it from his cheek. “Nicholas isn’t overly wise to pull something like that.”

“Maybe. But he’s a cute one, huh? Total dork though.”

“Hm,” Jesse said in a non-committal way.

He hated Nicholas as he watched him cut a new piece of cake, smiling merrily next to the man that was meant to be Jesse’s husband as of today. Jesse would have made a better picture up there. And _he_ wouldn’t have left Seiji with such displeased eyebrows showing through as he napkined off his face.

He hated Nicholas so badly it hurt. He’d cried and he’d raged and he’d yelled at his father and demanded a team of lawyers to _fix this_ but none of it had made him feel any better at all. There was only one thing left to try.

Jesse slid fingers to notch around a large bicep, drawing Gene’s attention to him.

“Gene,” Jesse started but didn’t get to say any more than that. The other man’s brows shot up and he gave a little shake of his head as if in amusement.

“My name’s Eugene.”

“Nicholas called you Gene,” Jesse said irritably.

“Yeah, ‘course Nick calls me Gene. He gets to call me that, doesn’t he?”

 _Of course_ Nicholas got to call Eugene some sweet nickname. That made sense.

“Eugene, then,” Jesse said. He’d never done this before. But he was sure it couldn’t be that hard. “Have you got plans for tonight?”

Eugene’s brows shot even higher than before.

“What?”

“I’m asking,” Jesse said impatiently, fingers pressing into arm with unbidden annoyance, “if you’d like to come over and keep me company. It was supposed to be my wedding night, you know.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a fun fact, but Nick and Seiji's wedding date is March 4th (and yes I _did_ postpone posting this so we could kick off with matching dates lmfao)
> 
> Also, heads up, the update schedule on this one _will_ change, possibly a couple times depending on things. For right now, it’ll be a weekly update (and that’s the slowest it’ll ever be). Thanks for your patience and I hope you enjoy! 💜


	2. Chapter 2

Eugene was a guest at Jesse Coste’s house, but he was the one inviting trouble. He could admit that this was _probably_ a mistake even as he’d left his best friend’s wedding with the supposed-to-be-groom Nick had been swapped in for. Hookups were meant to be fun and flirtatious, but there was a heavy silence that had permeated the drive, making the click of releasing seatbelts and opening car doors sound ten times louder than usual.

Jesse’s keys clinked in the night, scraping into the lock of his front door. It was set into one of those modern-looking things made of white walls and panels of glass. But Eugene was surprised at how tame it seemed. No stop at a gated outpost, no grand gates encircling the house. It was pristine and screamed of money, but it blended in more than Eugene might have expected.

The lock clicked and Jesse turned down the handle, opening the door into the house. It smelled expensive —new car smell but to a new extreme. Looked expensive too. Everything about it was perfectly staged. Like a model house more than a home.

“Do you live with your dad?” Eugene asked. Jesse scoffed so derisively you’d think Eugene had just asked him something entirely unreasonable.

“Of course not,” Jesse said snidely. “I rent this place—it was supposed to be temporary until Seiji and I—but anyway, we have the house to ourselves.”

“Oh, cool.” That wasn’t why Eugene had been asking but that _was_ what he was here for, right?

He couldn’t figure Jesse out. As he led Eugene through the house, he looked no more enthused than he had leading him to his car. But _he_ was the one who’d come onto Eugene in no uncertain terms. It was anyone’s guess why Eugene had accepted the brusque invitation. It could have been Jesse’s pretty face. Or it could have been the lonely echo in his voice and tight fingers around his arm. Either way, he was here now. Might as well see where it went.

It went into the bedroom, for starters. And right away—

“What are you doing?” Eugene asked, holding in a laugh at Jesse’s set face as he crowded into Eugene’s space and reached for the buttons on his coat.

“Taking off your clothes, what does it look like I’m doing?”

“It looks like you’re staring at a test you forgot to study for.”

“I’m sorry, would you prefer to keep your clothes on?” Jesse snapped.

“No, but I think _you_ might prefer if we both did. I’m really not sure you want to do this.”

“I do.”

“That’s not selling it, bud. Maybe I should—,”

“No!” Jesse grabbed Eugene’s arm and clutched tight. “I want to do this. Don’t leave…please.”

_Please_ didn’t sound like a word Jesse was accustomed to saying. Eugene hesitated. But he knew this was a mistake, didn’t he? He suspected Jesse would figure out the same thing in the morning. Eugene shouldn’t have followed Jesse here just because his wedding night had been given to someone else. His brother. _This is_ _Nick’s little brother,_ Eugene realized as he looked at Jesse, who was so opposite to his friend in so many ways that it hadn’t clicked until now that there was a relationship between them.

“I don’t think Nick would like it if he knew I was…”

“Does Nicholas have to know _everything_ you do?” Jesse asked, a shadow falling across his face. And he had a point. Eugene guessed there really wasn’t any reason to mention this to Nick unless it came up. Especially at the rate things were going now. But Jesse’s hand was tightening around his bicep in a vice. He’d done that at the wedding too. Holding too tight.

But Jesse must have decided his grip alone wasn’t tight enough to keep Eugene in place.

“You can have me any way you want me,” Jesse said bluntly, causing Eugene to stare at him with wide eyes. What kind of person said something like _that_ with an expression akin to a businessman brokering a deal—and not even a deal he cared for all that much.

“What?” Eugene said, not because he hadn’t understood but because he couldn’t get any of this to make normal sense. This was already the most stilted hookup he’d ever attempted.

“I’ll have you know that I wouldn’t usually be so lenient,” Jesse persisted, hand falling from Eugene’s arm to work on the buttons of his own jacket instead. For the fuss he’d made about Nick wrinkling his smoking jacket, Jesse dropped his own jacket to the floor carelessly. Then he started on the crisp button-down he wore. “But you look like _that_ type. So I don’t mind it tonight if you want me under you and—like I said, I don’t mind what you want or how you do it.”

“You’ve never done this before, huh?” Eugene asked, confused amusement at Jesse’s strip tease mixing with—despite himself—attraction to the smooth skin and fit chest he could see as Jesse undid his last button and shook out of the shirt. Partially unclothed, Jesse stepped again into Eugene’s space, a smile twisting his lips.

“Why? Have you got a thing for that?” Jesse took up Eugene’s hand and dragged it across his torso, pressed it against his chest, leaned into Eugene, whispered in his ear. “Tonight, I can be whatever you want me to be.”

When arms slipped around his neck and lips pressed against his mouth, Eugene let the strange magic of nights like these settle over him. Beautiful boys and dark rooms and tangled emotions that he had no part in, couldn’t fix, wasn’t asked to fix. All Jesse wanted was for Eugene to be here, to hold him, to distract him. And Eugene could do that.

Eugene wrapped an arm around Jesse’s middle, hands rasping over Jesse’s soft skin. Eugene couldn’t tell if Jesse knew what he was doing or not. He advanced like he did, like he knew exactly what he wanted. The way he pressed into Eugene and eagerly let his mouth fall open against Eugene’s…

But he seemed almost to have more ambition than knowledge or skill. Eugene guided him through kisses, tilting his head and taking his mouth in ways that earned him shivering reactions from Jesse. Eugene’s fingers danced along Jesse’s chest and Jesse’s fingers dug into his back. And then Jesse started pulling Eugene toward the bed.

Eugene wasn’t even surprised. Jesse Coste seemed the type to want to cut right to the main event. That much had been obvious every step of the way here to Jesse’s plush bed with its intricately quilted white blanket and absurd number of pillows stacked prettily right until Jesse toppled onto them and sent them scattering.

“Are you just going to stand there admiring or are you going to do something?” Jesse asked, staring up at Eugene with a tone that would have you believe he hadn’t a concern in the world. But his cheeks were flushed and Eugene watched as one hand tangled itself into the pillow that his blond hair spilled over.

When Eugene took this last invitation onto the bad and pressed a hand to Jesse’s heart, he felt the nerves and anticipation beating against his palm. Eugene bent down to kiss it and felt fingernails scrape into his hair.

“Do you have—?” Jesse asked, the tail end of the question lost to a gasp. Lucky for him, Eugene was great at context clues.

“Yes.”

“At a _wedding?”_

Eugene snorted at the judgment in Jesse’s voice. But you never knew what interesting characters you’d meet at a wedding—they could be great places to find a quick fix with no strings attached.

“You asked and now you’re complaining that I came prepared?” Eugene murmured into Jesse’s neck before biting it gently. Jesse’s hands tightened to fists in his hair.

“Are you planning to stay fully clothed this whole time?” Jesse huffed instead of answering.

“Nah, I guess not.”

Eugene sat back, leaving a reddened splotch on Jesse’s neck and pulling free of his hands.

Jesse stayed put, watching curiously as Eugene disposed of his own jacket and shirt. He supposed it was fair, given the way he’d watched Jesse strip earlier. He could tell that Jesse was as interested in what he saw as Eugene had been. And Eugene was _still_ interested in what he saw—Jesse’s pale skin had goose-bumped and marked from Eugene’s touch and that smug fuck smirk he’d worn at the wedding had disappeared, replaced with strawberry lips popped open temptingly and wide eyes, watching Eugene for his next move.

“You’re sure about this?” Eugene asked. Just to be certain. Jesse nodded.

“I want—I _need_ this, Eugene. Please.”

Nodding quietly, Eugene returned to the warmth of Jesse’s body to press another kiss to pretty lips.

Eugene recognized the pain in Jesse’s wide eyes and trembling lips and set jaw. In his fingers that tangled in everything they could find and his arms that held too tight and his body that pressed forward faster than Jesse knew what to do with.

The attitude—the harsh invitations and blunt seduction and desperate need all made it clear to Eugene what this was about.

Tonight, Jesse’s supposed-to-be-husband was in bed with another man. It was understandable to want a distraction from that. It wasn’t Eugene’s favorite thing, being a replacement in this way. He didn’t love knowing the person he was with was thinking of someone else. And Jesse’s thoughts and heart obviously belonged to Seiji Katayama. But it looked like it hurt him—how could that love _not?_

Eugene couldn’t fix it or take away the hurt. But he could offer comfort for tonight. And he didn’t mind it. Especially not with the way Jesse clung to him or with the sounds he made as Eugene kissed him and roamed hands over his body. Jesse arched into him and dragged him closer to him than ever. But Eugene took his time. Cutting to the main event had never been his style. Besides, Jesse had said Eugene could have him any way he wanted him, and Eugene wanted him feeling good.


End file.
